Customer Reviews

Toshiba W714 Hi-Fi Stereo VCR

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is a very good VCRs. This is another unit I saw while shopping. Visiting audio and video stores with the kids continues to be a regular weekend pastime with us. This machine replays VHS tapes giving one of the best pictures on the market today. The picture was very good. The color alignment looked good on both the Panasonic Super-flat TV and especially the Sony Wega TV sets. Resolution was excellent. Usually a good TV set makes VHS tapes look bad. That was not the case here. For controls and features I like the jog shuttle on the remote control. It also has digital tracking which is a must-have now days. Front and rear A/V inputs are also a feature that is a must-have these days.

This is one of the better VCRs on the market this year. It plays back tapes with very good imaging having one of the best pictures around. The 19-micron video heads record and playback a sharper picture in the EP mode. Pre-recorded tapes play back with an excellent picture too. How good a picture looks is what it is all about but it also has automatic head cleaners, superfast rewind, and an auto clock set feature.

With the top of the line monster cable and TV, this VCR delivers an extremly clear picture. I am so spoiled now with DVD players that going back to VCR's seems archaic. A VCR can never match the clarity of a picture from a DVD player, but this VCR comes very close. I hooked up this VCR to a Sony Wega Flat screen TV and used Monster 3 video cable, the highest quality vid cable on the market today. At first I used Monster 2 vid cable, then I tried the Monster 3 vid cable, and what a difference it made. It made the picture that much clearer. I purchased the Monster 3 vid cable along with the I400MKII audio cables. It retails for around $70, but if it affordable for you, it is worth it. For those of you with home theater systems, you will not be dissapointed either. I watched Star Wars (the 2000 special edition release) and the sound was intense. I notcied things on this movie I had never notcied before. When I watched a movie on this VCR, at times I forgot if I was watching a DVD or a VHS tape. The auto digital tracking makes the tapes you watch as clear as possible by automatically finding the clearest picture. The fast rewind and fast forward are nice features as well. You can rewind or forward a full length tape in under a minute. It is very time saving. If you have the correct set-up such as a flat screen TV and the Monster 3 vid cable mentioned above, this VCR is right for you. A word of warning though-in the editorial review it says it has an automatic head cleaner-upon careful review of this VCR it does not. In the manual it says if you want to clean the vid heads you have to purchase a commercial head cleaner. If your willing to shell out the extra dough for the cables, this VCR is right for you. I think you will agree the picture clarity is well worth it.

Easy setup and operation. Great picture! I'm amazed at (the value) these days in a VCR. I remember seeing these "high-end" features (jog/shuttle, hi-fi, etc.) 8-10 years ago at 10 times the price. Good job Toshiba, and Amazon!

I bought this VCR...through Amazon.com....There is not an extended warranty offered. My first mistake. The VCR worked for about 3 weeks. When it worked, it was great. I loved everything about it. All of a sudden no picture, just audio. I went to the Toshiba site and found a repair shop that Toshiba recommends. To make a long story short, this is the 3rd time it's been in the repair shop. They told me they replaced the board. Sounds bad. The repair shop STILL has it from the 3rd trip in March of this year. Now I'm back waiting with Toshiba to get a new VCR. The repair shop tried to pawn a used one off on me. Toshiba was very nice at first, now I'm left hanging by the manufacturer. I have an older Toshiba that still works great. That's why I bought another Toshiba.This VCR was a lemon for me. I read the customer reviews, most weren't good, but I purchased anyways.Even more reason to read the reviews.Save your money and possible headaches on this one folks.

This was the worst VCR I have ever owned! It worked great when I bought it 3 months ago and since then it has chewed up 3 tapes and the only thing that works now is the eject. It is completely useless and cannot be repaired. I was not expecting it to last for years but expected to get more than 3 months out of it. I was generous in giving this product 1 star...it doesn't even deserve half a star. I could understand if the thing were used constantly but on the average it was used maybe once a week, so that would make it a total of about a dozen times we used the VCR. I woud advise anyone to save their money and buy a different one!

Purchased this unit in Nov 2001. The picture is above average to great, depending on the tape (even on purchased tapes) and the flying amp does make the stills and slow motion a whole lot better.

There is one problem that I have noticed that also affect others who use the linear timing track on the tape. The quality control on some purchased tapes is so poor that this tracking track is too weak for the player to hold track and the picture cuts out very often. An example is the tape with Tommy Lee Jones called U.S.Marshals. It will play on some VCRs but not this unit. Although, other tapes play fine in this machine.

I have noticed that when this tracking problem occurs, playing the tape in Fast Forward does allow you to see the movie (no sound) but the picture is OK.

So I guess you need two VCRs to keep the bases covered.

Overall, it is a good machine.

We have had our Toshiba W-714 for approximately one year. It developed a problem with going into slow motion reverse on it's own and got worse the longer you would play a tape. It has now started to eat tapes.